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Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera,
the largest unbroken and ufloaded in the world. An active
volcano several million years ago, it is thought to have once stood higher
than Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is home to a small relict population of black
rhinoceros and some 25,000 other large animals, largely ungulates, alongside
the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa. Nearby are lake-filled
Empakaai crater and the active volcano of Oldonyo Lengai. Excavations
carried out in the Oldupai Gorge to the west, resulted in discoveries
which have made the area one of the most important in the world for research
on the evolution of the human species.

Biogeographical Province East African Woodland/Savanna
(3.05.04)

Geographical Location 180km west of Arusha
in the far north of Tanzania, adjoining the south-eastern edge of Serengeti
National Park: 2°30'-3°30'S, 34°50'-35°55'E.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area
and Its sorroundings, click the map to expand and view details

Date and History of Establishment:
1928: Hunting in the area prohibited;
1929: Serengeti Game Reserve created (228,600ha);
1951: Ngorongoro made part of the new Serengeti National Park;
1959: The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) established by Ordinance
# 413 to accommodate the existing Maasai pastoralists;
1975: The Ordinance redefined by the Game Parks Law Act # 14 to prohibit
cultivation in the crater;
1981: Internationally recognised as a part of Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere
Reserve;
1985: The Ngorongoro Conservation & Development Program initiated
by the government.

Area 828,800ha. Contains the World Heritage site (809,440ha).
Contiguous to Serengeti National Park (1,476,300ha) and 15km northwest
of Lake Manyara National Park (32,500ha). Contained within the Serengeti-Ngorongoro
Biosphere Reserve which covers 2,305,100ha.

Land Tenure Government. Administered by the Ngorongoro
Conservation Authority (NCAA).

Altitude ~ 960m to 3,648m (Mt.Loolmalasin).

Physical Features The Conservation Area rises 1,000m
from the plains of the eastern Serengeti, over the Ngorongoro Crater Highlands
to the western edge of the Great Rift Valley. To the south are densely
populated farmlands, to the north the Loliondo Game Control Reserve. The
highlands have four extinct volcanic peaks over 3000m, including the massifs
of Loolmalasin (3,648m), Oldeani (3,188m) and Lomagrut, the vulcanism
of which dates from the late Mesozoic/early Tertiary periods.
Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unbroken caldera in the world which is
neither active nor flooded, though it contains a saline lake. Its floor,
at an elevation of approximately 2,380m, measures 17.7 by 21km and is
26,400ha in area (3% of the NCA), with a steep rim rising 400-610m above
the floor. The formation of the crater and highlands are associated with
massive rifting which occurred to the west of the Great Rift Valley. The
area also includes Empakaai Crater and Oldupai
Gorge, famous for their geology and associated palaeotological
studies. The highland forests form an important water-catchment for surrounding
agricultural communities.

Trail Map of The Ngorongoro Conservation Area - Click to Enlarge

Climate Because of the range in relief and the dynamics
of its air masses, there is great variation within the climate of the
area. In the highlands, it is generally moist and misty, while temperatures
in the semi-arid plains can be as low as 2°C, and often go up to 35°C.
The annual precipitation falls between November and April and varies from
under 500mm on the arid plains in the west, to 1700mm on the forested
slopes in the east, increasing with altitude.

Vegetation The variations in climate, landforms and
altitude have resulted in several overlapping ecosystems and distinct
habitats. Within Tanzania the area is important for retaining uncultivated
lowland vegetation, for the arid and semi-arid plant communities below
1300m, for its abundant shortgrass grazing and for the water catchment
highland forests. Scrub heath, montane long grasslands, high open moorland
and the remains of dense evergreen montane forests cover the steep slopes.
Highland trees include peacock flower Albizzia gummifera, yellowwood
Podocarpus latifolia, Hagenia abyssinica and sweet olive
Olea chrysophylla. There is an extensive stand of pure bamboo
Arundinaria alpina on Oldeani Mountain and pencil cedar Juniperus
procera on Makarut Mountain in the west. Croton spp.dominate lower
slopes. The upland woodlands containing red thorn Acacia lahai and gum
acacia A. seyal are critical for protecting the watershed (Kayera, 1988).

The crater floor is mainly open shortgrass plains with fresh and brackish
water lakes, marshes, swamps and two patches of Acacia woodland: Lerai
Forest, with co-dominants yellow fever tree Acacia xanthophloea
and Rauvolfia caffra; and Laiyanai Forest with pillar wood Cassipourea
malosana, Albizzia gummifera, and Acacia lahai.
The undulating plains to the west are grass-covered with occasional umbrella
acacia Acacia tortilis and Commiphora africana trees, which become
almost desert during periods of severe drought. Blackthorn Acacia
mellifera and zebrawood Dalbergia melanoxylon dominate in
the drier conditions beside Lake Eyasi. These extensive grasslands and
bush are rich, relatively untouched by cultivation, and support very large
animal populations.

Fauna a population of about 25,000 large animals, largely
ungulates along with the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa,
lives in the crater. These include black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis (CR),
which have declined from about 108 in 1964-66 to between 11-14 in 1995
(Moehlman et al.,1996), and hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius
which are very uncommon in the area. There are also many other ungulates:
wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus (7,000 estimated in 1994), zebra
Equus burchelli (4,000), eland Taurotragus oryx, Grant’s
and Thomson’s gazelles Gazella granti and G. thomsoni (3,000).
The crater has the densest known population of lion Panthera leo (VU)
numbering 62 in 2001 (Arusha Times,2001). On the crater rim are leopard
Panthera pardus, elephant Loxodonta africana (EN) numbering
42 in 1987 but only 29 in 1992 (Said et al.,1995), mountain reedbuck Redunca
fulvorufula and buffalo Syncerus caffer (4,000 in 1994).
However, since the 1980s the crater’s wildebeest population has
fallen by a quarter to about 19,000 and the numbers of eland and Thomson’s
gazelle have also declined while buffalos increased greatly, probably
due to the long prevention of fire which favors high fibrous grasses over
shorter less fibrous types (IUCN/SSC,2002).

In summer enormous numbers of Serengeti migrants pass through the plains
of the reserve, including 1.7 million wildebeest, 260,00 zebra and 470,000
gazelles (Leader-Williams et al.,1996). Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus
mainly occur mainly near Lerai Forest; serval Felis serval occur
widely in the crater and on the plains to the west. Common in the reserve
are lion, hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus, spotted hyena
Crocuta crocuta and jackal Canis aureus. Cheetah Acinonyx
jubatus (VU), though common in the reserve, are scarce in the crater
itself. Wild dog Lycaon pictus (EN) has recently disappeared
from the crater and may have declined elsewhere in the Conservation Area
as well. Golden cat Felis aurata has recently been seen in the Ngorongoro
forest.

Cultural
Heritage The area has palaeotological and archaeological sites
from a wide range of eras. The four major sites are Olduvai gorge,
Laetoli and Lake Ndutu all near the
Serengeti and the Nasera rock shelter in the Gol
Mountains. The variety and richness of the fossil remains, including
those of early hominids, has made the area one of the most important in
the world for research on the evolution of the human species. Olduvai
Gorge yielded valuable remains of early hominids including, in 1959, Australopithecus
boisei (Zinthanthropus) 1.75m years old, also Homo habilis as well
as fossil bones of many extinct animals. At Laetoli nearby, fossil footprints
of an upright hominid 3.6m years old were found in 1975.

Local Human Population The Maasai, nomadic cattle herders,
entered the crater around 1840. Since the multi-use protection of the
area was proposed in 1959, the population of the area has exploded beyond
the numbers of cattle able to support it without farming, aggravating
tensions with the conservation-oriented administration. In 1966 there
were 8,700 people in the NCA. In 1994, the Natural Peoples World estimated
the Maasai population at about 40,000 (one quarter of those living in
Tanzania), with some 300,000 head of livestock which graze approximately
70-75% of the conservation area. But mobile pastoralists are difficult
to count, and Leader-Williams et al. in 1996 put the figure at 26,000
pastoralists with 285,000 head of cattle. Since their eviction by the
NCAA in 1974, there are no inhabitants in Ngorongoro and Empakaai Craters
or the forest. (National Park Service, pers. comm.,1995). In general,
livestock numbers are declining and the Maasai are growing poorer.

Visitors and Visitors Facilities The spectacular wildlife,
geology and archaeology of Ngorongoro-Serengeti are major African tourist
attractions spread across an area the size of Rwanda or Sicily. About
24% of all tourists visiting the parks of northern Tanzania stop at Ngorongoro.
These totalled 35,130 in 1983, 140,000 in 1989 in at least 30,000 vehicles
(Fosbrooke,1990) and, according to the Chief Conservator, there were between
1998 and 2001, 562,205 visitors of whom 202,957 (36%) were Tanzanian (Mbakilwa,
2002). The damage inflicted by these numbers is considerable. There are
four lodges on the crater rim and one at Lake Ndutu on the edge of Serengeti.
Vehicles and guides can be hired from the Conservation Authority to enter
the crater. There is an interpretive centre at the Lodoare entrance and
another at Oldupai, which focuses on the interpretation of the Gorge and
its excavations. An information centre to promote wildlife tourism to
local Tanzanians was opened in Arusha in 2002.

Scientific Research and Facilities The area, with Serengeti,
is one of the best studied areas in Africa. Work based at Seronera Wildlife
Research Centre (SWRC) in the contiguous Serengeti National Park, formerly
the Serengeti Research Institute, include the monitoring of climate, vegetation
and animal populations. The level of research into human and range ecology
is low. Long-term studies in the crater have been on lion, serval, rhinoceros
and elephant behaviourial ecology (SWRC, 1993). From 1988, the Ngorongoro
Ecological Monitoring Programme has been individually identifying black
rhinoceros, and monitoring breeding and movement patterns (Moehlman et
al.,1996). Seronera Research Centre provides a research station and accommodation
for scientists. There is a small research cabin within the crater. The
IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group has just reported on the decline of
the crater’s antelope species and increase in buffalos (IUCN/SSC).

Conservation
Value Ngorongoro is the largest intact, inactive and unflooded
caldera in the world. The conservation area has one of Africa's largest
aggregations of wildlife. It is home to a small and isolated relict of
the black rhino population,and discoveries in the area round Oldupai gorge
is one of the most important in the world for research on the evolution
of the human species

Conservation Management Ngorongoro was first established
as a conservation area which would accommodate the existing Maasai. The
Ordinance of 1959 created the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).
Its objectives were to conserve and develop the NCA's natural resources,
promote tourism, and safeguard and promote the interests
of the Maasai. By 1960 a draft management plan was prepared. On Independence
in 1961 Prime Minister Julius Nyerere issued the Arusha Manifesto of support
for the preservation of the country’s wildlife. The government conducted
a pioneer experiment in multiple land use (one
of few such areas in Africa) which attempted to reconcile the interests
of wildlife conservation and Maasai pastoralism. It failed through a lack
of rapport between government officials and the tribesmen who were seen
as degrading the land and competing with the wildlife for the resources
of the crater. In 1974 tribesmen farmers living in the craters were summarily
evicted. The removal of these natural (and low-cost) guardians resulted
in an increase of poaching and the subsequent near extinction of the rhinoceros
population. The 1975 Ngorongoro Conservation Area Ordinance was redefined
and in 1976 cultivation was banned as incompatible with conservation.
Between 1984 and 1989 the property was on the WHC danger list as a result
of these conflicts

In 1985, following the Serengeti Workshop, convened by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism, the Government of Tanzania and IUCN initiated
the Ngorongoro Conservation and Development Project. Its main objectives
were to identify the requirements for long-term conservation of the area
by assessing land use pressures in and adjacent to the conservation area;
to determine the development needs of resident pastoralists; to review
and evaluate management options; to formulate conservation and development
policies to fulfil the needs of both local Maasai people and conservation
priorities; and to develop proposals for follow-up activities (IUCN, 1987).
Zones were defined for scenic and archaeological quality, wildlife forest,
pastureland and infrastructural development. Since the problems were identified,
the NCAA has set more funds aside for appropriate solutions, veterinary
services and water have been provided and the relationship between the
tribesmen and the NCAA has been improved by the establishment of a Community
Development Department and a joint Management-Resident Representative
Council (Leader-Williams et al.,1996).

The contiguous and nearby protected areas provide key feeding grounds
for a number of species such as buffalo, wildebeest, zebra and Thomson's
gazelle that migrate out of the crater during periods of drought, and
much effort is made to prevent migration routes from being encroached
on by settlements and agricultural developments. Efforts have been made
to control poaching with the aid of the Frankfurt Zoological Society,
the African Wildlife Foundation, the Tanzania Wildlife Protection Fund,
WWF and the police. IUCN/WWF Project #1934 was set up in 1981 to combat
poaching of rhinoceros in the Lake Eyasi area and two vehicles and radios
were provided. In an attempt to reduce pressure on the natural forest
for fuel wood the NCAA produce up to 40,000 tree seedlings annually. Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Management Plan proposals have been submitted but were
rejected by the Chief Conservator because the proposed plan was regarded
as going beyond its terms of reference.

Management
Constraints There has been continued poaching of black rhinoceros
and leopard, which is difficult to suppress effectively due to the lack
of equipment and fuel, rough terrain and low staff morale. According to
Moehlman et al. (1996), the rhinoceros population, owing to its small
size, is extremely vulnerable to poaching, and faces genetic threats from
inbreeding and loss of genetic variation. The spread of malignant catarrh
fever which kills cattle, although it has little effect on wildebeest,
has been reduced as wildebeest numbers have markedly decreased as have
other antelope numbers. There is a problem with securing water, caused
by the neglect of the dams, boreholes and pipelines installed during the
1950s and 1960s and by the road widening and canal works which have blocked
and diverted water from streams and the Gorigor swamp either to tourist
lodges or directly to Lake Makat, no longer flooding the crater during
the rains (IUCN,2002).

Grassland areas are also degrading with the extensive spread of the unpalatable
grass Eleusine jaegeri, and other weeds which compete aggressively with
palatable grasses, especially the poisonous Mexican poppy Argemone mexicana
which rapidly invades overgrazed land, crowding out both crops and the
native plants which sustain the existing wildlife. The invasions may be
partly due to the prevention of fire and overgrazing due to drought which
may contribute as much as emigration, disease or disturbance by tourists
to the change in the animal populations. The forests to the north-east
are increasingly threatened by fuelwood gathering both by people living
in the Conservation Area and in villages in the Karatu and Kitete areas
along the eastern boundary. A number of poorer Maasai from the area make
a living collecting honey from wild bee colonies in the forest, frequently
burning trees in the process. About five percent of the area has been
degraded by trampling and overgrazing, and there is a threat from vehicle-tracks
becoming excessively enlarged, mainly by tourist activity.

Conflicts over land-use have increased in recent years as the Maasai
became more numerous and sedentary, turning to cultivation to supplement
their previously cattle-based diet. The decline in numbers of livestock
was aggravated by inadequate veterinary services, which the NCAA had difficulties
providing as income from tourism decreased (Leader-Williams et al.,1996).
In the 1960s each man had 12 cattle to sustain him; by 1989 this had become
five (Fosbrooke, 1990). In response to the scarcity of food, residents
were allowed to practise cultivation on a temporary basis. More than 2,200ha
were estimated to be under cultivation in 1993 (TWCM,1993). Much of this
was on areas too steep for agriculture, causing erosion. Encroachment
on the slopes of Empakaai and Kapenjiro has been so extensive that they
may be excised from the conservation area. This has had serious impacts
on the vegetation which protects water catchments, and on wildlife corridors
(J.Thorsell, pers.comm.,1993). In addition, the Chief Conservator reported
that disease followed by a plague of flies had killed at least 600 animals
in 2000 (Nuhu, 2001).

Priorities identified by the community include food security, livestock
health and infrastructure such as better water supply, housing, clinics
and schools. Some of these have been provided to try to lessen conflicts
(Leader-Williams et al.,1996) and in 2002 the NCAA was reported to have
set up an NGO, Ereto, to support local communities with free services
(Kangera,2002). But there is still a lack of a clear management policy
and commitment to human development on the same level as the conservation
of the wildlife. The uncertainty caused by this has led to under-investment
in the area, which the employment and empowerment of local people would
begin to improve. But in 2001 the World Heritage Committee urged a moratorium
on further development until an assessment of environmental impacts, especially
of water resources by a hydrological survey, had been completed. It also
recommended a scientific overseeing committee, ecologically based burning,
mitigation of road works, an improved road plan and limiting the effect
of tourist numbers (IUCN,2002).